November 13, 2024 Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

65 1 object, you can’t stop him. 2 MR. PLOCKER: I can continue talking without 3 interruption, too, so I’d like to do that. I think Mr. 4 DeFeo was going to go and start to refer to possible 5 discussions that may have been had during the 6 negotiations, so I would just ask him to tread 7 carefully in that area. 8 MR. AFRAN: I don’t know why we’re treading 9 so carefully. What’s in here is a public document. It 10 was released to the public. It forms the substantive 11 basis of why Mr. DeFeo is here. 12 MS. McGOVERN: That’s right. However, what 13 is on the table, what got taken off the table, what got 14 changed, that part is not in this document. 15 MR. AFRAN: It says specifically that -- 16 MS. McGOVERN: And that part is not going to 17 be discussed here because those settlement discussions 18 that are privileged communication. 19 MR. AFRAN: You don’t know that, Ms. 20 McGovern, with due respect. 21 MS. McGOVERN: I do know that. I know that 22 all settlement discussions on any cases in litigation, 23 they’re not evidentiary. 24 MR. AFRAN: I, number one, didn’t ask about 25 settlement discussions, per se. Number two, I reject 66 1 the premise you’ve raised that a settlement discussion, 2 a settlement document released to the public is so 3 subject to privilege, the questions about it can’t even 4 be asked in public. There’s no basis for it. There’s 5 no basis for blocking me. 6 THE CHAIRPERSON: Obviously, the basis is the 7 Planning Board was not part of -- it says it clearly in 8 the documents. The Planning Board was not a part of 9 the settlement agreement. We have nothing to do with 10 the settlement agreement. He -- 11 MR. AFRAN: You do have something to do with 12 (indiscernible). 13 THE CHAIRPERSON: The zone was adopted into 14 the Master Plan and the Board’s responsibility is the 15 zone in the Master Plan. So, anything that travels 16 from the settlement agreement into the master plan, we 17 can refer -- into the O-IH-1 zone, we can talk about. 18 As long as it belongs in the IH-1 zone, we can talk 19 about it. 20 MR. AFRAN: This witness retained by the 21 Board to be here repeatedly referred to the virtues of 22 this settlement proposal because the developer agreed 23 to pay for deer fencing which he says is such a 24 miraculous occurrence, he’s never even heard of it 25 before happening. So, the question of the -- 67 1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.

he developer agreed 23 to pay for deer fencing which he says is such a 24 miraculous occurrence, he’s never even heard of it 25 before happening. So, the question of the -- 67 1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Let’s not -- he 2 didn’t say miraculous. 3 MR. AFRAN: I’m being an advocate. 4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. And this is 5 wonderful but let’s focus on the IH-1 zone. Those 6 things traveled into the IH-1 zone -- 7 MR. AFRAN: And they’re there anyway. 8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Excuse me? 9 MR. AFRAN: They’re there already. If it 10 traveled into it, it’s relevant. 11 THE CHAIRPERSON: As long as it’s in the 12 zone, that’s what we’re going to discuss. 13 MR. AFRAN: Mr. Bagoff, I must point out, the 14 witness repeatedly said how favorable this is because 15 the developer is willing to pay the high cost of this 16 deer fencing. It’s entirely proper for me to ask is 17 this proposal in place of the otherwise very high cost 18 the developer would have to pay to plant and replace 19 the trees. 20 THE CHAIRPERSON: And he did testify to that. 21 I’ll let him answer that because he did. 22 MR. AFRAN: Well, that’s what I asked. 23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Then he can testify to it. 24 MR. AFRAN: That’s all I asked. 25 THE CHAIRPERSON: And that’s what we’re going 68 1 to do. 2 MR. AFRAN: Good. 3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. 4 MR. AFRAN: We’ve reached consensus. 5 Q Do you remember the question? 6 A I think I have it. The simple fact is that the 7 deer fence -- if the applicant simply did a tree 8 replacement plan, the odds are better than even that 9 those trees would simply have been destroyed by the 10 deer. The idea of the deer fencing was in lieu of 11 simply planting lots and lots of trees which would 12 probably not survive and in my experience don’t 13 survive. 14 The fact is, the deer fencing would help to 15 regenerate the forest at a better rate and make for a 16 healthier forest. So it was a discussion of how much 17 deer fencing could we get the developer and could we 18 get regenerated forest. Deer fencing will leave to a 19 healthier forest with greater undergrowth than planting 20 trees. 21 Q Wasn’t it a fact that the deer fencing was 22 raised in substantial part because of the extremely 23 high cost of replacing the trees under the ordinance? 24 MR. PLOCKER: I’m going to object. The 25 settlement agreement references that. It speaks for